The Dubliner, who turned 34 yesterday, reluctantly decided to end his career with Nottingham Forest.

"I have no regrets and I know I did positive things for every team I played for," said Reid, who made 29 appearances for Ireland at senior level.

"I'm just really disappointed that I couldn't finish on a high, maybe with a promotion for Forest. There isn't always a happy ending, though.

"I think my fairytale in football is the fact that I've had a long and, in my opinion, good, career. I'm very, very grateful for that.

"I've had some wonderful experiences, played in some big games, for some big clubs, and I've enjoyed every minute of it."

Injuries have plagued him throughout his career and the hugely talented Dubliner admitted: "The most frustrating thing about it was that, throughout the whole period, I could get back to around 60 or 70 per cent.

"I could do a full rehab programme, a mini pre-season, and then the last bit - the explosiveness, the sharpness, kicking the ball and the instinctive things that you need to be able to do in football, the things my game was all about; that's when I'd break down," he said.

"It got to the stage where I'd had that many false dawns, that it started to take its toll on me, in my head as well as on my body.

"The hard thing was making the actual conscious decision, but towards the end of last season I knew that was it."

Reid's announcement comes a day after Shay Given called time on his international career.

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp's preparations for the new season have suffered a setback after new Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was ruled out for two months.

Karius, who joined the Reds from Mainz for £4.7m in May, has flown back to England from California after breaking a bone in a hand.

The German, who suffered the injury when he collided with Dejan Lovren during the International Champions Cup defeat to Chelsea on Thursday, will require an operation.

Karius is expected to be out of action for eight to 10 weeks, which means Simon Mignolet will now have the chance to impress Klopp, starting with the Premier League opener at Arsenal on August 14.

Liverpool will step up their pre-season preparations with a game against AC Milan in Santa Clara tomorrow. Midfielder Marko Grujic is unlikely to play after suffering concussion against Chelsea.